Confessions
by The Girl in the Striped Scarf
Summary: AU. Cloud would do anything to make sure Tifa doesn't find out that he loves her. So that's why he told her: "I'm gay".
1. Chapter 1

_Earthbound Series #1._

"Confessions"

**(Main) Pairing: **Cloud x Tifa.

**Side Pairing(s):** Aerith x Zack (a _lot_ of it?)

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**Summary:** AU. Cloud would do anything to make sure Tifa doesn't find out that he loves her. So that's why he told her: "I'm gay".

**A.N**. Okay, here's the deal. I kind of mixed _Crisis Core_ Cloud with _FF VII_ Cloud and _Advent Children_ Cloud, and Zack is alive. Because of this, there _probably_ wouldn't be the Aerith-Cloud-Tifa love triangle existent in this story, and Cloud is a little... different, personality-wise. Nothing too drastic, just combined features of Cloud over the years into one dude. :P

**_Earthbound_**** Conversions: **(1) 'SOLDIER' is a made-up video game, with gameplay much like 'Halo' or 'Call of Duty', except with swords. Jenova is the antagonist, the protagonist being an 'unnamed SOLDIER 1st'. (2) 'Chocobo' = 'Duck'.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own _Final Fantasy VII_ and any of its sequels (_Advent _Children) or prequels (_Crisis Core, Before Crisis_) referenced to in this fic. I don't own the _FFVII 10__th__ Anniversary Ultimania_ or the _Crisis Core Ultimania_ either (which is where I got my research from). I don't own _Halo _or _Call of Duty_ either, now that I think about it…

**EDIT (_/_/13): **_I re-edited the first three chapters because let's face it, this was uploaded on a whim and was barely edited before it was uploaded to the site. So, I took the liberty of re-uploading edited versions of the **first three chapters**, as well as a new one. Hopefully, we can get this story on the road now that it's summer and I'm not crammed with schoolwork anymore. Enjoy!_

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**Chapter 1: **"The Logic of a Man in Love" (Part I)

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"Take it off."

"No."

"Dude. Seriously. Take. The. Effing. Thing. Off."

A defiant shake of the head. "_No_."

Behind them, two girls pointed and giggled mockingly, much to the disdain of the raven-haired student.

"Dude," he almost pleaded, "you're scaring all the chicks away!"

A raise of a pale brow. "You have a girlfriend."

Zack grinned. "An awesome one at that."

He couldn't see his best friend's eyes through the ridiculous headgear, as the attached goggles covered the top half of his face. But he knew Cloud long enough to feel the 'I-don't-care' glare boring into his skull. He was sure that if he could see Cloud's look right now, he'd be dead thirty times over already.

To be honest, he didn't even think that going to the local bar would be so… unnerving for the little guy. Yet, he managed to piss off Ducky-Head past the point of 'capable-of-murdering-the-Great-Professor-Sephirot h' level.

He leaned back on his seat, the leather of the booth soft against his aching back. Zack only wanted to relax tonight; between his ENGG PHYS 470 midterm and his tutor, Angeal, slamming him with ENGG MATH 482 homework, he wanted nothing but to relax this Friday night. Only, Aerith was gone for a couple of weeks to the Mideel rainforest for her Botany 377 course.

So, naturally, he went to the next best thing.

Not that his best friend fell second to his girlfriend or anything, but Cloud, as of late, was often busy with Gaia-knows-what and was only being sensitive to his requests that he leave him alone for a while. But since it was a couple of weeks since he'd seen the guy, he figured that Cloud would probably want a break by now. Only, when he'd invited Cloud along, he thought that he would be met with a bundle of sunshine that would be more than happy to share a few drinks with him.

Zack _certainly_ didn't expect Cloud to show up to 7th Heaven in a SOLDIER helmet. Yes, he would readily agree that SOLDIER was a cool video game and all, but _really_?

The first thing that Zack said to him was whether or not he needed directions to Jenova's _cooch_ for the Reunion.

Cloud responded by roughly shoving him against the wall.

A couple of hours later and Zack _still_ hasn't figured out the reason for Cloud's sudden loss of his head.

Idly, Zack wondered if Cloud was secretly a woman and was currently PMSing.

"Okay." Leaning closer towards the blonde, he decided to use a gentler approach. "What's going on here Cloud? Did something happen?"

A blank look. Shrugging somewhat awkwardly, Zack elaborated. "Did you get bullied? Did someone steal your books? Because we both know that this isn't a conscious fashion choice here," he jokingly added in the end, hoping to alleviate the tense aura in the air.

Silence. And then, "It is so a conscious fashion choice."

Sceptically, Zack raised a dark brow. "Really? You want to be walking around downtown Midgar with a SOLDIER helmet on your head?"

"… Yes."

"Uh huh." Zack didn't buy it. He took another sip of beer and narrowed his eyes at his odd-looking best friend. "Okay, fine. Don't tell me."

Cloud shrugged. "Okay."

The next few minutes were absolute _torture_ for Zack. While he normally did not feel so self-conscious around the general populous, he couldn't help but hear the whispers of the bar, feel the boring of numerous pairs of eyes laid upon the two of them, see the rude fingers pointed in their direction. It drove Zack absolutely _insane._ The worst part was, Cloud, the most self-conscious guy on the Planet, had the audacity to look as if the ridicule didn't bother him.

But just when Zack was ready to voice his discomfort towards the happily-chatting Duck-Butt, a girl in a black-and-white leather outfit walked towards their table, effectively halting Cloud mid-sentence.

"Hi," the brunette spoke. "My name's Tifa. Your waitress is not available anymore tonight. Is everything here okay?"

Zack blinked. After a moment of assessment, he recognized the woman as the new main barmaid of 7th Heaven. "Oh. Hi." He gave her one of his charming grins and pushed the empty bug of beer in her direction. "Where's the other waitress?"

The barmaid raised her brow and smirked. "Why? You were going to pull the moves on her tonight?"

Zack laughed heartily. "Maybe."

"Well… she had an emergency to deal with. Sorry to disappoint." She turned her attention towards Cloud, who looked like he'd gone on a wild ride at the back of a truck (motion sickness _was_ Cloud's worst enemy, after all). "You've attracted a lot of attention tonight, haven't you?"

Zack watched as his best friend did a mix between a dance with his jaw and the slow reddening of his cheeks. If he didn't know any better, he would have performed CPR on the poor guy.

A few awkward moments later, Tifa pursed her lips and grabbed the empty mugs on the table. "Er… okay then. I'll be right back with these."

Once she was gone, Zack leaned over and grinned. "You think she's cute, don't you?"

"… No."

"Aha! I knew it!"

"What?" Cloud frowned. "I do not."

"Do too!"

"Do not."

"Do too!"

Cloud stuck his tongue out.

Zack rolled his eyes. "Real mature, Cloud."

He looked away, smartly choosing to stay silent. Not that it did much to save his dignity, Zack mused.

"See? This is why you have to take off your helmet! Miss Tifa will notice your cute little ducky hair and be smitten!"

The glare came back, powerful as ever. Zack shivered. While innocent-looking as the blonde was, he had his frightening moments.

But, it was in that cold, slightly crazed look that he understood. He knew a hint when he saw one. "Okay, but you'll be regretting it," he said in a sing-song voice.

"Not interested," the blonde reiterated in faint annoyance. Zack would've laid off the topic, if it weren't for the fact that his cheeks were rapidly burning into a pink tinge for every moment they were talking about her. Although... something was tugging at the back of his mind. Suddenly, the name became familiar to him. Where had he heard of that name before?

He shrugged it off and smirked at his blushing best friend. "Sure you aren't," Zack wagged his eyebrows at Cloud, who proceeded to snort derisively in the direction of the wall beside them. "Hey Tifa!"

"Hah-!" Cloud's frantic waving of his arms was immediately cut-off by the wine-eyed brunette's presence.

"Is there something wrong? I was going to get your drinks in a minute-"

Zack waved Tifa's rambling off with a dismissive wave. "Oh, that can wait. You wanna help a guy out here?" He jerked his thumb towards the frozen SOLDIER-helmeted blonde in front of him. Inside, Zack was itching to burst into laughter. "He's being really weird tonight. He refuses to take off that stupid helmet of his."

"What?" Tifa blinked, and glanced in the direction of the SOLDER helmet-wearing man. "How come?"

Cloud said nothing.

Picking up on Cloud's lack of cooperation tonight, Zack continued. "Maybe you can convince Cloud to telling you why he's not willing to enjoy a relaxing time at the lovely 7th Heaven with me tonight…" He trailed off once he caught Tifa's dumbfounded look. "What?"

Instead of responding, she rounded on the other participant in the table. "_Cloud_? As in, Cloud _Strife_?"

Zack's blue eyes bugged out in shock. Cloud was an odd enough name as it was, so he was sure that his friend was the only 'Cloud Strife' in Midgar. "You guys know each other?"

Cloud sighed and tossed Tifa a weak smile, taking off the helmet. His blonde spikes bounced back into the hectic mess they normally were. "Hey… Tifa…"

"Cloud!" Said blonde was immediately swallowed into a hug. "How have you been? It's been ages since I saw you last!"

"Yeah…"

Much to Cloud's horror, Zack winked. From Cloud's point of view, that was the signal for hell breaking loose. "So, Tifa? How do you know Cloud?"

Pulling away from the horror-stricken male, Tifa said, "We both come from the same hometown. We've been neighbours since we were kids."

Zack's brows shot up in surprise. Whatever he'd been expecting, he certainly wasn't expecting _that_. Surely, Cloud would have mentioned something about a beautiful, long-legged, busty brunette living next door to him, right?

He frowned at this particular piece of information. It triggered that _something_, at the back of his mind, nagging at him...

"Wow," he whistled, "small world, then." He didn't know much about Nibelheim, but he knew that it was small enough that meeting someone in Midgar from there would be a rare occasion. And from the look Cloud was giving him, it looked like he did recognize the woman.

Suddenly, something snapped together in his brain. Cloud _has_ talked about her before.

The first thing that Zack wondered was if they had previously dated. It certainly looked like it, from Cloud's sheepishly pained expression. But previous mumbled conversations ran quickly through Zack's mind and it clicked.

Unfortunately, it clicked in his head a second too late.

"I'm gay."


	2. Chapter 2

**A.N.** Thanks for the lovely reviews! This my first multi-length fic, so hopefully I won't let you guys down! Unfortunately, I broke up the chapters wrong so this whole scene ended up being two chapters. Hopefully I don't screw up like that again. :/

To the reviewer who asked, this is AU (alternate universe). It takes place in Gaia, but I just took all the fantasy stuff out. So no, it's not in the canon setting. And since everyone is the same age as they would be in FF VII, they're in university. So no, it's not a high school fic.

Anyway, here's the next chapter!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from the Final Fantasy VII Compilation, nor am I making any money from this. Me is broke.

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******Chapter 2: **"The Logic of a Man in Love" (Part II)

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Being the subtle man that he is, Zack's jaw dropped to the floor.

"W-what?!" He spluttered, but no one heard him.

"Umm… that's great, Cloud." Tifa blinked, confused. "But I was only asking you if liked Midgar so far."

Sheepishly, Cloud ruffled his blonde spikes. "Er, right."

Awkward silence. And then, "I'm going to get your beers now." Tifa jerked a thumb towards the back, and walked to the back. Zack scoffed at Cloud's wandering eyes. When the blonde heard it, he quickly jerked his head back into the direction of the glass mug in front of him, cheeks tinged with pink. Zack would've pinched him if he was a girl, from how girlishly _cute_ he was being.

But, Cloud wasn't a girl and furthermore, Zack was completely, and utterly confused.

Fortunately, with her presence gone, Zack was free to say whatever he wanted. And he had _a lot_ to say.

"What." Unfortunately, Zack's brain has apparently malfunctioned from this new piece of information and thus, cannot speak properly.

But Cloud ignored the ridiculous expression on his best friend's face. Instead, his face landed in his hands. "Imf nut fay."

Zack's brows furred together. "What?"

Cloud looked up. Poor Cloud – he looked utterly hopeless. "I'm not gay."

Now Zack was really confused. "What? But you just said…"

But before he could interject another word in, Cloud quickly shushed him. "I- I know. I don't know why I said that," he spoke in a hushed tone.

Zack stared at Cloud. His blue eyes were frantic and hazed, and his face was contorted into an expression of helpless mortification. He was practically screaming for help.

Leaning back on his seat, he crossed his arms across his chest and frowned. "Then why did you tell this Tifa chick that you were?"

"I don't know!"

The brunette sighed, brushing a hand through his dark spikes. "Okay… then tell her that you're not," he replied a matter-of-factly.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because-" Cloud paused, then sighed in defeat. "I... She..." He froze, unable to get the words out. With the helpless look he carried through this whole ordeal, he looked at Zack in the eye. "There's... something about her... You _know_?" He emphasized the last bit out, desperately hoping that Zack would understand.

Fortunately, he did. "Well _duh_," Zack rolled his eyes. At Cloud's questioning look, Zack simply shrugged and said, "Only a lovesick idiot would pull a stunt like that."

Cloud sighed. "I know."

Zack then leaned forward, pouting childishly. Looking at the blonde straight in the eye, he commented, "too bad, though. She thinks that you're not available, _ever_. You wouldn't be able to hook up or anything!" The look on Zack's face was almost comical if it weren't for the detrimental situation at hand. "How will you be able to snag this girl if she thinks you don't play for the women's team?"

"I don't want her to know, Zack," Cloud answered.

"But… _why_?"

Cloud looked away. "She would never like me that way. It's best that she doesn't know. At least now, she won't think I... erm, like her."

"Because she thinks that you're gay!" Zack exclaimed exasperatedly.

"Exactly!"

Zack stared incredulously at his best friend, shaking in disapproval. "Your logic amazes me sometimes, Cloud."

"Please, please, _please_ don't do anything Zack," he pleaded, eyes begging. "Just… leave it alone."

"How could I not! You know what? We're fixing this right this second. Tifa! Tiffff- _oof_!"

Cloud's hand immediately clamped on the older man's mouth, his blue eyes wide and frightened. "Don't! Zack!"

"Buf yew liek Teefa," was Zack's cheeky response. He then proceeded to spit on the hand Cloud was using to cover his mouth.

"Eww, Zack! That's disgusting!" Cloud jumped back, wiping his hand of Zack's saliva. The raven-haired man grinned.

"Heheheh." His eyes trailed as soon as he caught a familiar glimpse of black and white. "Hey, Tif- _woah_!"

A loud _bang_ resonated throughout the bar, echoing over the clinks and conversations that buzzed about. Because of this, multiple eyes shot up from the sound, frantically scanning the room for the source of the sound.

Meanwhile, crazed, red-rimmed eyes bore down at Zack. In addition, the blonde's hands gripped frighteningly tight onto his wrists, pinning him down on the bar floor.

"Don't. You. _Dare_," Cloud hissed out with a menacing vengeance Zack hadn't seen since… well, _ever_.

Despite this, he blew a raspberry in Cloud's direction. Even though spit got all over the blonde's face, Cloud managed to wipe his face with his shoulder without letting go of Zack's wrists. Unfortunately, they loosened enough so that Zack was able to find an opening.

"But you-" _grunt,_ "like-" _push_, "her!"

With another loud _bang_ (and a couple of '_ooh's_!' from nearby spectators), Zack managed to flip Cloud over. This caused the blonde's glare to deepen. Unfortunately, this did nothing to Zack's confidence; instead, Cloud could feel the blood around his wrists loosing circulation.

"Zack, let go."

Zack smirked down at his best friend, who was struggling to get out of his grip. "Cloudy, I'm not going to until you tell Ti-"

_Oof._

"Don't tell-" _heave_, "her!"

They rolled around the floor of 7th Heaven, oblivious to the growing amount of spectators looking in to catch a glimpse of the two cute, brawling men. Flashes lit up in the dark bar, in addition to these wide eyes looking into the scene with piqued interest.

Finally, a large, dark-skinned man came in and pulled the two away from each other. "Okay you two! What the hell's goin' on!"

Immaturely, Zack pouted and pointed to an appalled Cloud, who was still fully trying to figure out the extent to what the two of them have actually done within the past eight minutes or so. "He started it!"

"What!" Cloud cried out.

"ENOUGH!" The gruff man holding them both glared at the two of them. He then jerked his head towards the door. "If you can't behave, then you two are ban-"

"_Stop__!_"

All three heads turned to survey the newcomer of the scene. Her long, trailing brunette hair swished in the silence of the bar as she strolled down in their direction. All three men bore expressions of confusion, and in Cloud's case, a slight pair of pinking cheeks accompanied it.

"Cloud?" She spoke softly, a gloved hand laid on the blonde's suddenly limp arm. "What happened?"

Cloud hung in Barret's arm in silence. Everyone watched as he looked down and tried to look as innocent as possible. Meanwhile, Zack resisted the urge to shake his head, or tell Tifa the real reason for the fight. He was silly and a bit rambunctious, but he wasn't stupid.

And the fact that all of the patrons of 7th Heaven were staring at them, hanging from a large man's arm wasn't exactly dignifying to begin with.

But just as Zack thought Cloud wasn't going to say anything, he spoke up, albeit softly.

"Sorry, Teef."

Tifa stared down at Cloud for Gaia-knows how long and sighed. "Barret," She suddenly addressed, causing the dark-skinned man to jolt from his spot. "I know Cloud. He's nice and sweet. Whatever happened here did not… he's not a troublemaker."

"But my bar!" Barret protested, but was quickly shushed when Tifa gently tugged on Barret's arms, which were holding up Cloud and Zack. After glare given to the two younger men, Barret let them go. With a reverberating crash, the two landed gracelessly on the bar floor.

"Ow!"

"Geez, you could've put us down better!" The ravenette said, glaring at the frowning bar owner, who merely rolled his eyes at the complaint.

Meanwhile, Tifa was staring up at the tall man, her brows scrunched together and her hands gripped lightly on Barret's arm. "Don't ban them… please?"

Barret assessed Tifa's pleading look. After what seemed like forever, Barret turned away and glared in the direction of the two still-wincing men. "You got lucky. You got a warnin' this time. But next time…"

Grumbling in a hushed tone, Barret walked away without a second glance.

Tifa leaned over to help Cloud up. "Are you okay?" She asked, genuinely concerned. Cloud blushed and turned away.

"Yeah. Sorry about that, Tifa. I didn't mean to…" he trailed off when he caught Tifa's soft smile.

"Don't worry about it. Just be careful next time, Cloud." She winked. "You wouldn't want to hurt your _boyfriend_ now, right?" She added, giving a playful smirk to the dark-haired man beside Cloud.

Zack immediately shot up from the floor from the implication. "WHAT!"

Ignoring Zack's indignant protests, Cloud smiled. "Y-yeah. My boyfriend. Zack_. _Right. Um, thanks, Tifa."

"No problem. Come on in again one day. I'd like to see you again."

The blonde gave Tifa a subtle nod. "I'd like that."

Cloud then proceeded to walk out of the bar, an incredulous Zack in tow.

* * *

Tifa eyed the two men as they left the bar. She smiled when she caught a glimpse of the taller, black-haired man giving Cloud a friendly noogie on his blonde spikes. When the two disappeared into a corner, the barmaid turned away.

Behind her, she could hear the other barmaids settling the rattled customers down. A few seconds later, Tifa heard the bar click back to its normal buzz of conversation and the drunken hassle of tables that came with the typical bar scene. Luckily, the customers seemed to be unfazed by the fight. She was glad that it didn't get out of hand; she didn't want to start fighting herself in the middle of the bar to settle the two men down.

Letting out a sigh, the brunette strolled down to where the two were found brawling on the floors of the bar. Luckily, none of the glassware had broken. Besides the spilled beer on the floor, nothing about the scene could identify that a dispute had happened only moments before.

When she leaned over to clean up the mess, a passing barmaid nudged her on the hips. "So, you know who those two men that Barret just kicked out?"

Tifa looked up to see a stick-thin brunette carrying a tray of beers, which she handed out to the customers near her.

She then crouched down to help wipe the mess off the floor. "Jeez, they were cute and all, but _way_ to leave the mess for us!" The lithe woman glared at the door, as if the two men were going to come any second just so she could have the chance to beat the crap out of them. She certainly would too, if they did.

Smiling, Tifa took the rag that she handed out to her and started wiping down the mess on the floor. "Yuffie, we've dealt with worse. It wasn't even that bad."

The younger brunette stood up. "I guess- hey! They didn't even pay!"

At hearing this, Tifa looked up at the table. She blinked in surprise when she found nothing but the mugs she had picked up from the floor. She couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Still the same, after all this time," she said to herself, shaking her head in faint amusement. Yuffie gave her friend a look.

"What?"

But the older barmaid just shook her head. "Nothing." She jerked a thumb in the direction of a table at the far corner of the bar. "If you don't want to help, those people over there look like they need some drinks."

Yuffie tiptoed up to take a peek. She grinned. "Ooooh, they're cute too. Thanks Teef!"

Tifa rolled her eyes, but her lips were curved upwards into a grin. "Better get a good tip," she hollered out as Yuffie ran off.

"No worries, Teef. They're no match for The White Rose of Wutai!"

Once she was gone, the brunette woman turned back in the direction of the spilled beer and pulled out a rag. But just as she was about to start cleaning up, the shine of something silver caught her eye.

"What the..." she mumbled quietly. She leaned over the table, and sure enough, on the booth seat, was Cloud's helmet, gleaming from the dim lights of the bar. She picked it up and stared at it for a moment.

Cloud wasn't one to intentionally attract attention, from what she knew from back at Nibelheim. So when she found out that the man under the helmet was the one and only Cloud Strife himself, she was pretty surprised, to say the least. Cloud had his share of the spotlight back home (and not in a good way), so an act like this seemed almost uncharacteristic of the blonde to do.

A skit for a play? Unlikely. She replayed the events from earlier and frowned. Nothing whatsoever indicated that he suddenly developed a love for the theatre. A project for school? Just as unlikely. He said that he was leaving Nibelheim to become an engineer, wasn't he? What kind of engineering project required them to wear a SOLDIER helmet around?

Tifa shook her head. The reason didn't matter much. Even though she found it a little odd, she had to let it go. She'd just have to give it back when she saw him. Whenever that was.

Setting the helmet on the table, Tifa began to clean up the mess. After it was cleaned up, Tifa looked around the room. After a quick replay of customers she had to service before the fight went down, she headed out to the back to grab more beers for the table she was waitressing for beforehand. On the way, one of the barmaids stopped her.

"Tifa?"

"Yes, Shelke?"

She dumped a bunch of bills and coins in Tifa's outstretched hand. "One of those two men that caused a dispute moment earlier came back. The blonde one, I believe. He told me to give this to you."

As the nineteen year-old walked off, Tifa counted the amount of gil in her hand. It was more than enough to pay for the drinks, Tifa realized.

_Maybe to compensate for the mess_, she concluded.

Holding the gil in her hands, Tifa gave a small smile to the air in front of her and got back to work.


	3. Chapter 3

**A.N.** Er, boring chapter. :( Wow, I'm really stretching out this one night, aren't I? I'm sorry, hahah... I still haven't really figured out the mechanics of writing a story. Are you _supposed_ to have something happen all the time? Or are you allowed fillers like this? What do people usually like more? O_o It would really help if I got some tips... that was the main reason for me not posting the chapter - I didn't know whether to give some down time for Cloud's torture or what.

Hey, does a Beta help with that kind of stuff?!

Anyway, here's the next chapter. Has some mild swearing. Probably 'cause Reno's in here. *shrugs*

**_Earthbound_**** Conversions: **(1) PHS = phone. (Kind of figured that out already, but ya know, you gotta be consistent for these things.)

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from the Final Fantasy VII Compilation. Yeah...

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**Chapter 3: **"The Logic of a Man in Love" (Part III)

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"So… Cloud."

"So… Zack," Cloud relayed back.

The two men glared at each other. They were currently seated at a nearby coffee shop, as it actually wasn't too late in the night. Because of the dispute, the night ended quite early for the two of them. Eight o'clock, actually.

This was the disappointing thought that passed through Zack's mind when he took a glance at his phone. He had hoped that he would have a night of classy drunkenness with his best friend. Maybe meet up with the other guys later, get even more wasted, and probably pass out on Angeal's doorstep at the wee hours of the morning. Heck, at this point, he would have rather woken up the next day and have Angeal ramble about some lecture about "honour" and "pride as a dignified Midgar U Engineering student". Or something like that.

He certainly hadn't expected to become _lovers_ with his best friend.

Zack watched as Cloud twiddled with his thumbs, staring at them as if they were the bane of his existence. "So… I'm just going to sit here all night, you know. Just until you tell me what the _hell _you got us into," he said, casually taking a sip out of his coffee cup.

Blue eyes glanced up to see Cloud, nervously ruffling his blonde spikes. To be honest, Cloud didn't – couldn't – fully comprehend what had just happened within the last hour. Honestly, when he found out through his mother that Tifa was working as a barmaid in Midgar, he didn't expect to run into her. After all, Midgar was a big city. What were the chances of seeing her anyway?

To make things better, after a _casual_ interrogation of his mother, he found out that the woman of his dreams wasn't even going to Midgar U, so the chances of him running into her were almost zero to none.

Unfortunately, Cloud was known for his bad luck. When he went out to buy the new SOLDIER game (and the included helmet), he hadn't expected his mom to call him about Tifa and whether or not they've met up yet, and no, Mom, he hadn't found an older woman to "take care of her so please _stop_".

(Needless to say, the mocking stares that blinked at him after he hung up were enough to kill his dignity for the night.)

And he _certainly_ hadn't expected for Zack to call up right after to invite him out for a couple of drinks. Since he had just got home from the video game store at the time, he voiced out to him that he would get ready and meet him in a bit. But being the quiet boy that he was, his voice was drowned out by a couple of men on the other line, saying the barmaids at 7th Heaven were really hot, including the "new chick that they hired, and yeah, her name was Tifa… something".

And Zack being Zack, immediately decided on going to 7th Heaven before Cloud could comprehend what was going on. All he remembered was that he had slipped on the stupid helmet when he heard Zack knocking on the door. Unfortunately for the both of them, Cloud wouldn't let go of the stupid thing, forcing Zack to deal.

The young blonde sighed.

"I don't know where to start," was how he decided to start the conversation off. He then let Zack take a sip out of his coffee and take this comment in.

And then Zack answered with, "This is really good coffee. Why are we never here?"

Cloud stared at him, blank-faced. "W-what?"

Zack put his drink down and stared at Cloud seriously. "You're going to tell Tifa that you're not gay, and more importantly, that _we're not dating_."

"What?"

"Cloud, I'm _dating_ someone. I'm sorry, buddy, but I'd rather that Aerith not come back finding out that I'm gay and dating my best friend."

The blonde nodded. "That's… understandable." He looked down at his drink for a moment, staring at the black muddle inside his cup. Why did he buy this? He didn't even like coffee.

"Cloud?"

"Couldn't I just tell her that we're not dating? She can still think that I'm gay." He pleaded. But Zack shook his head.

"Cloud."

The blonde sighed. "Fine."

At this exact moment, Zack's phone decided to vibrate. Taking one glance at the screen, he pressed the green 'call' button and smiled into the phone. "Reno! You still at Johnny's?" A pause. "No, Reno, I'm not going there tonight. Why?" Zack gave Cloud a look, who gave him a sheepish, apologetic shrug. "I… kind of got into a fight there. No, I'm not banned but let's just go to The Club tonight."

Cloud watched as Zack got up, tossing his cup into the garbage. "No, Reno! I'm not going with you to the Honey Bee Inn! I have a girlfrie- _bro,_ I love the chicks but I still have my honour!"

He pressed his phone shut. Zack slipped a hand into his pocket and waved a two-fingered salute at his friend. "Reno wants to go out tonight. I'll see you later. Unless you want to come?"

Zack didn't even need to finish his sentence to know that Cloud was going to say no. He was never the type to go out. At least, not the way Reno and him did it. Zack almost smiled at the thought; no, Cloud wasn't that type of guy.

"Nah. I think I'm going to go home. I bought the new SOLDIER game. Think I'm going to try it out."

Zack nodded and headed off towards the door. "Yeah, have fun with that." But before he left, Zack put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Please, Cloud. Do you – and me – a favour. Tell Tifa as soon as possible, please? Preferably before Aerith gets back from Mideel?"

Cloud began to shake his head, but at seeing Zack's grave expression, he nodded. "Okay," he agreed. "I'll tell her tomorrow." Then, he blinked. "What's Aerith doing in Mideel?"

"Studying plants in the rainforest or something," he answered nonchalantly. Cloud rose a brow at that; both of them knew that the Mideel rainforest was dangerous. Between the poisonous plants and the naturally toxic environment, it was almost a death wish to let someone unprepared to face the consequences of the danger-ridden rainforest. Zack, the most protective boyfriend on the Planet, was the last person to willingly let Aerith go head first into danger.

"She'll be okay, you know," Cloud said in a measly attempt to calm his passively worried friend down.

The brunette gave Cloud his 'devil-may-care' grin, but it only made Cloud question Zack's true feelings about the subject. "Anyway, she'll be back in a couple of days. I better not be dating you by the time she gets back." Before Zack walked out of the coffee shop, he added, "You better tell her that you're not gay either, Cloud."

Cloud gave his friend a defeated nod. "Yeah, Zack."

After they exchanged their goodbyes, the raven-haired man strolled out the door. He watched his friend walk away, through the large glass window at the front of the coffee shop. A little bit far ahead, Zack fist pounded a certain redhead who had a pair of sunglasses on top of his head. Cloud had to raise a brow at that. Even though it was only late September, the days were already getting shorter, so it was already dark out. Who wore sunglasses at night, anyway?

Despite the odd fashion choice of his friend, he had to give it to Zack. He manages to make friends so easily – he never understood why he ended up being _his_ best friend in the first place. And it's not like he's single, either. Heck, if Zack hadn't been dating Aerith, he was sure that he would be drooling at her from afar. To top things off, he was in the top Engineering University in the continent. It wasn't like he was going to be left jobless as soon as he graduated, either. One thing was for sure; his best friend had it _good_.

He gave Zack one last look. Then, he got up, throwing the still-full cup of coffee away and walked back to his apartment. He had some SOLDIER to play.

* * *

"Yo. Zack!"

Zack gave the redhead a fist pound. He looked around, only to find no sight of the tall, bald guy he always saw with Reno. "Where's Rude?"

Reno frowned. "Coward. He didn't want to 'get into the mess that we're planning to get into tonight'," he said, pulling out his hands from his pockets to use quotation gestures. Zack chuckled.

"Sounds about right."

Reno waved a hand down. "Eh, who needs him? You ready?"

The raven-haired man nodded. "To get drunk, yes. To get laid…" He wrapped an arm around his friend's shoulder and gave him a smirk of his own. "You're on your own, buddy."

"What!"

"I have a girlfriend!"

Reno snorted. "Right. Damn, man. Aerith's changed you."

Zack's dark brow rose, but he laughed anyway. "I wasn't even that bad before Aerith showed up!"

"Yeah, well. Anyway," Reno jerked a thumb in the direction of a nearby bar. "Get drunk. I have the stuff to mess with Genesis' apartment later."

"You mean the cream sodas and the super glue?"

Reno smirked. "Among other things-" He stopped as soon as he caught eyes with a passing blonde, who flirtatiously flashed him a coy look. Beside him were two other girls, both beautiful and both strutting in really short outfits. Reno was already giving them the smooth talk he was famous for. They were probably going to end up spending the night with them, if things went right for Reno. Not that he particularly felt the need to be with bodacious ladies; he had Aerith.

Yet, he couldn't help but be concerned about a few things. Zack briefly gave the coffeehouse that he was just in a side glance. It was already closed for the night, meaning that Cloud probably went home.

He supposed that he could catch up with him later. He hadn't seen him in a while, and last he heard, Cloud wasn't dealing with university very well. And there was the matter of the news. And he had to tell someone at one point, right?

He got ready to slip his hand into his pocket. It usually made him feel better to hold it, especially lately, with the new year. (Graduation _was_ around the corner, after all.) Unfortunately for him, a loud call stopped him.

"YO! ZACK! GET YOUR ASS OVER HERE!"

He looked up. The girls and Reno were already headed off towards the bar. They were staring at him, all waiting.

"Coming!"

Yeah, he'd have to deal with Cloud later.


End file.
